WWE News: Why WWE Brought Lilian Garcia Back and What's Next for Tony Chimel

I’m sure you have probably heard by now that the WWE has brought back former ring announcer Lilian Garcia, who worked for the company as Monday Night Raw’s ring announcer from 1999 to 2009.

After roughly a two-year hiatus, Garcia made her return to the company at Tuesday’s Smackdown taping, even getting involved in an angle that I won’t spoil for you.

Garcia’s return seemingly came out of nowhere, given that the WWE appeared to be set with Justin Roberts on Raw and Tony Chimel. But we have the story behind Garcia’s surprising return to the WWE.

From the Wrestling Globe Newsletter (via WrestleNewz.com): 

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WWE brought Lilian Garcia back to the organization to permanently replace Tony Chimel as the ring announcer for weekly Smackdown tapings. Chimel, 50, will continue working for WWE at television tapings in the production office backstage. Company officials asked Garcia late last week if she wanted to return and a deal was reached Monday upon her arrival in Tampa, Florida. 

"

No huge loss for the WWE here.

While I respect Chimel for all the work he’s done for the WWE throughout the years, I’ve always felt like he was the weakest link in the pool of WWE announcers. He was not as good as Roberts, didn’t have the popularity or fanfare that Garcia had and certainly was no Howard Finkel. 

That being said, I’m definitely happy to see Garcia back. 

While ring announcers don’t necessarily add too much to the WWE product, Garcia always found a way to make her announcing entertaining, she had a great connection with the fans and she wasn’t too bad to look at, either.

When Garcia left the WWE two years ago, I always felt like she would be back once she recharged her batteries, and I’m certainly not going to complain about seeing her back in a WWE ring each and every week. 

Garcia is very good at what she does, and I’m pretty sure that neither Roberts or Chimel can sing the national anthem quite like she can.